Chương 840: Side Story - Mythical Relic (5)

"..."

"..."

Between Makli Hyun-ah and the Black Marquis, an awkward silence briefly lingers.

Makli Hyun-ah rolls his eyes around and thinks about how to get out.

'The beast scroll or the Rabbit Seven Heavenly Lords are... damn it. Other than the clothes created with social power, all the other dharma treasures and even the beast scroll moved together, didn't they!? Am I really the only one who didn't move?'

Makli Hyun-ah realizes there is practically not a single life-preserving means left to him, and he bites his lips tight.

The Black Marquis also looks around.

"From the result of the celestial energy calculation device, it seems this was not a trap, but simply that you were left behind due to an unexpected mistake. Is that not so?"

"Hahaha! How could that be!? I stayed behind on purpose because I wanted to see even a little more of the Black Marquis's glorious visage! I was absolutely not left behind by mistake! I will pass down this glorious meeting to my descendants from generation after generation! I have seen the Black Marquis's venerable face enough, so this humble one will be going now. Then, I'll be off!"

Right after Makli Hyun-ah finishes speaking, he quickly turns around and tries to fly away.

But by the attraction force that bursts out from the Black Marquis's grasp, he gets pulled straight to the Black Marquis, and his nape gets caught in the Black Marquis's hand.

The Black Marquis lifts Makli Hyun-ah with one hand as if picking up a kitten, and they emit a sinister gleam from their eyes.

"Come to think of it, you—you have a special constitution. I conducted a primary search with the celestial energy calculation device, and inside your spirit lies an enormous interdimensional space... or rather, a world. A fellow with unusual qualities like you will be of great help to the evolution of the puppets. I will take you to the factory, have you undergo a detailed search, and try modifying you."

"Kuaaagh! That can't happen, damn it! I'm getting out of here!"

Chwaruruk!

Makli Hyun-ah quickly seals himself into the second dimension, then the first dimension, turning into a string of characters and slipping out of the Black Marquis's hand. He then sticks to the ground and quickly flees from the Black Marquis.

The Black Marquis fires and detonates about one or two shells toward Makli Hyun-ah, but only the terrain features that Makli Hyun-ah sticks to get shaved away, and there is no damage at all to Makli Hyun-ah, who has turned into a string of characters.

"Hahaha! Do you think it will work? If I turn into a two-dimensional, one-dimensional form, what can you do? What can you do, I say! Ahahahaha..."

Kwaduduk!

However, before Makli Hyun-ah's sneer even ends, Through attraction force, the Black Marquis lifts the entire surrounding land up into the sky and rounds it together into a ball, and no matter how Makli Hyun-ah moves, he becomes unable to escape that land floating in the air.

The Black Marquis sneers and speaks.

"So you are a one-dimensional fellow. Then, sleep."

Kwaduduk!

In an instant, the land clumped into a sphere gets crushed within extreme attraction force, and Makli Hyun-ah instantly loses consciousness inside the extreme point of intense gravity.

"Heok!"

When Makli Hyun-ah comes to his senses, a familiar ceiling comes into view.

It is the training room of Ban Ta, inside Ban Ta Castle of the Purple Gold Realm.

Because of Ban Ta's will to pull in Makli Hyun-ah's consciousness and train him every time Makli Hyun-ah sleeps, his consciousness has been pulled to Ban Ta Castle.

In front of him, Ban Ta, having transformed into a female body, sits in a lotus position and waits for Makli Hyun-ah with a gentle smile.

"You are here, my disciple. Then let us begin today's cultivation."

"Master! Please help me!"

The moment Makli Hyun-ah sees Ban Ta's face, he brightens and asks for help.

"This disciple is captured by the puppet legion of a being called the Mad Lord in the Vast Cold Realm! They say they will use me for utterly vicious experiments! Please, save this disciple!"

"Hmm..."

Ban Ta seems to think about something at Makli Hyun-ah's words, then speaks.

"At my level, there are ways of being able to glimpse fate to some extent. The fact that you are captured by the puppets right now will instead act upon you as a great blessing. Rather, through it, you will gain reliable reinforcements, so do not be too afraid."

"B-But Master..."

"Mm, well, in any case, the puppets of that fellow called the Mad Lord have the problem of body modification, so if you get modified while conscious, it can be a bit scary. Do not worry. If it is scary, you can just stay unconscious the whole time."

"Does that mean... I need to keep staying together with Master...?"

"Mm? Could it be... you dislike it?"

Ban Ta looks at Makli Hyun-ah's reaction with a slightly sullen expression, and Makli Hyun-ah shakes his head.

"H-How could that be!? This disciple likes it! But..."

"Hahaha, that is enough. It is a joke."

Ban Ta says as he strokes Makli Hyun-ah's head.

"Anyway, there are signs that one of the ancient ominous calamities is going to awaken near the Purple Gold Realm, so the Purple Gold Realm is not safe either. That is also why I sent you to another Middle Realm. Keeping you by my side is dangerous as well, so I will send you back to your body. And starting today, I will not call you for the time being. I also have to go toward the Araya Domain and the Manas Domain to prepare for the ominous calamity."

"Master... are you going to be alright? Isn't it dangerous?"

"..."

"…Master? What is wrong?"

At Makli Hyun-ah's worry, Ban Ta's expression turns a little blank again.

"... No... it is just... you asking me not with an anxious heart that 'if the Sacred Master disappears, you will have to take charge of the Purple Gold Realm as the Sacred Master'... but with a goodwill purely worried about me... you seem to be the first..."

"..."

"Thank you, disciple! With you here, I absolutely will not lose!"

"Ueup!"

Ban Ta's eyes, slightly bitter and deeply moved, mix together, and he pulls Makli Hyun-ah strongly into his arms.

"Do not worry too much about the puppets. Until the matter is resolved, I will seal your consciousness, and I will make you float only inside the alternate space within your Extreme Ghost Path Body. There will be gains there as well, so until your comrades come save you from the puppets, you may explore your inner world."

"Uup... th-thank you, Master!"

Makli Hyun-ah, with his face red, conveys thanks to Ban Ta, and Ban Ta, with a confident face, strokes Makli Hyun-ah and continues speaking.

"Now, in any case, it seems your fear toward the puppets has faded a little... Then, let us have a pleasant lesson together with your master!"

Makli Hyun-ah is thus able to carry out this and that cultivation regarding the Confucian Family Method together with Ban Ta.

Kwarurung!

The otherworld where the Human Race Grand Alliance is staying.

Inside the 'Ghost Mother's Tomb'.

A corner of that alternate space shakes.

"... I said my fiancé, Hyun-ah, is still left behind. Send me back."

"Kugh...! It's an unfortunate matter, but if through the Yin-Yang Family Method divine power we conduct space substitution in a short period... I do not know about me, but the miss will go through great pain."

Ahn Geum, while twisting and gripping Ha-eun's neck, glares with a grim gaze at Ha-eun and 'Jo Yeon', who are tied through the Yin-Yang Family Method and cast space substitution together.

"I do not care about your pain. If you are a cultivator to begin with, are you not supposed to always take it for granted that you will go through a certain degree of pain? We have fought on the foremost line while our whole bodies, our Integrated Dao Domain, our spirits got torn apart by the puppets. But the woman called the chief strategist is now saying she cannot bring back the main forces again because she is a little afraid of that kind of trivial pain?"

"It is not that kind of trivial pain... We... no, the miss... must carry out the task. And for the sake of the task, she is being pressed down by the task with that uncomfortable body... For the miss, using a cultivation method once is not a simple matter. Every time she cultivates, the task presses down on the young lady even more strongly...!"

"Well... I do not exactly get it, but I think I roughly understand."

Ahn Geum speaks while looking at Jo Yeon and Ha-eun with eyes mixed with a sneer.

"I already knew from the moment I saw you that you are not an ordinary human. Rather than human, you have a presence closer to a wandering soul..."

She mutters in a cold voice.

"What you call task is probably some kind of fate. Some fate you absolutely must accomplish in this life... but I also have a strong fate, so I know well. I also know well what kind of curse a strong fate is. I understand that the weight of fate acts as a curse on you and you suffer pain. But, because of that pain, are you going to turn away from your responsibility?"

Under Ahn Geum's cold gaze, Ha-eun falls silent, and Jo Yeon bites her lip.

"We trusted your operation, entrusted our bodies, fought, and came back having achieved a great victory. Because there was a gap in your operation, Hyun-ah, my fiancé, fell alone on the battlefield and was left behind. The persons responsible for the operation are clearly you, and if you truly bear responsibility on your shoulders, then instead of worrying about curses of fate or whatever, should you not take responsibility!?"

At her sharp outburst, Jo Yeon opens her mouth.

"... Martial Artist Ha-eun. Please stop. We are sorry to Lady Ahn Geum."

"You shouldn't say you are sorry, but that you will take responsibility. I am not in a good mood right now, so..."

"We will take responsibility. But right now, realistically it is impossible. Given the behavioral patterns of the puppets, they are not going to remain there unnecessarily and vent their anger on Cultivator Makli until now. They have probably taken Cultivator Makli to the factory, will modify him into a puppet, and try to research the Confucian Family Method."

"... That is, to bring Hyun-ah back, we must know the location of the place called the factory? Where is that factory?"

"... I apologize. The factory is not a single place, but split into thousands, tens of thousands, or more branches, and the branches move by themselves and travel every day, so... we cannot know the exact location where Cultivator Makli has been moved to. Additionally, because they disturb the celestial energy tracking of cultivators through something called a celestial energy calculation device..."

Kwaaaang!

Ahn Geum directly slams Ha-eun down and gets angry.

"... When you say research the Confucian Family Method, that means they won't kill him right away?"

"Yes. Rather than immediately killing a cultivator who learned an unusual Hundred Families Method and modifying him into a puppet, they will most likely go to a upper-grade factory and conduct detailed research, so if we only need to track the locations of the hundreds of upper-grade factories rather than the tens of thousands of ordinary factories... Still, it will take time, and in the meantime..."

"So, for unusual people, they do some research first and then modify them, meaning there is time? What about in the case of a special constitution?"

"If it is a special constitution..."

"It is a constitution that appears in legends."

Ahn Geum bites her lips and speaks.

"In our Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order, he is a guy we put up as a Saint candidate in order to make him a Saint. He is a guy with that level of constitution, and he is also learning at least two of the Hundred Families Methods. Then wouldn't they send him to a somewhat special place even among the upper-grade factories?"

"..."

Jo Yeon hears her words and thinks deeply about something.

"... A special constitution, two of the Hundred Families Methods. If it really is such a special constitution... then perhaps..."

Jo Yeon speaks with a hardened expression.

"He may be taken to a place called the [Overseer Factory]."

"[Overseer Factory]?"

"In the distant mythic age, they say the Mad Lord controlled all puppets and factories through a special fortress-type puppet called the [Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress]. But the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress collapsed in the Mad Lord's era, and the Mad Lord's puppets that remain now created one more fortress-type puppet that, like the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress, oversees all puppets and factories. That is the [Overseer Factory], which oversees all factories.

"They say in the Overseer Factory, endless knowledge about puppets, experiment information, and modification information is all gathered, and moreover, innumerable Star Shattering stage puppets, and the latest equipment to evolve and repair them, are packed in and entrenched. If it is such a place, it would be perfect for researching the legendary constitution you speak of."

"... So, there is a high possibility that Hyun-ah is in the place called the Overseer Factory?"

"Yes."

"..."

Ahn Geum reads the celestial energy.

Makli Hyun-ah still exists in the Vast Cold Realm.

'Does the fact that he didn't return to the Purple Gold Realm means Ban Ta thinks we can sufficiently resolve this level of danger ourselves? But from what these guys say, it's a crazy place where dozens of Star Shattering stage puppets swarm together. In that case... I see. Ban Ta... are you telling me to take out the move I've kept hidden?'

Ahn Geum bites down on her lips.

"... Even if that celestial energy calculation device or whatever interferes with celestial energy estimation... the Human Race Grand Alliance's celestial energy estimation ability should be enough to find just one place like the Overseer Factory. Help me raid the Overseer Factory."

"Just the location of the Overseer Factory is something the entirety of the Heaven Tribe are searching for through celestial energy estimation and continuously sharing in real time to each race. But... even so, the Overseer Factory is too dangerous. There are hundreds of Star Shattering stage puppets alone, and that is only the number that has been revealed. If you add in the hidden puppets too, the Star Shattering stage puppets would be in the quadruple digits.

At this level, it is enough to contend evenly with even a Sacred Vessel stage Sacred Master! If the Vast Cold Realm's Sacred Master was not a special existence, the Vast Cold Realm would have already become a world of puppets. I too wish to raid the Overseer Factory and end this war, but... realistically, no race is going to want to step forward first."

"H-Hundreds of Star Shattering stage... no, anyway."

Ahn Geum is left dumbfounded by the puppet grand army beyond common sense and is at a loss for words, but she clicks her tongue, regains her senses, and speaks again.

"If it is that much... I will take out the card I've kept hidden and help you. The Human Race can take the lead and, through this opportunity, wipe out all the puppets."

"By hidden card, you mean..."

"... I am a Saintess with a special position even within the Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order. It is not merely to the extent of communicating with a True Immortal."

At her following words, everyone present is shocked, and their gaze toward her changes.

"I can summon a True Immortal who believes in the Immeasurable Life Buddha. Of course, I also know the Vast Cold Realm is in a special state, and that makes it hard for the True Immortal to enter. But if we properly build an altar and borrow power, we can draw down the True Immortal's divine power at least once."

However, this has a limit on the number of times, and because she has a record of summoning a True Immortal once in the previous battle with Lee Seo-ah, Ahn Geum now has about two summons left.

If she borrows the True Immortal's divine power one more time now, that too will be treated as summoning a True Immortal, and the count will be deducted.

It is only because the environment of the Vast Cold Realm is special. which makes it difficult for a True Immortal to intervene, that they cannot descend directly and can only channel their divine power. It is not that the True Immortal ignores Ahn Geum's request and refuses to answer the call.

Because of that, Ahn Geum feels like bloody tears are about to spill at the deduction of the precious True Immortal summon count.

'Still, since I'm, going this far for his disciple, I can buy some of Ban Ta's goodwill. Ban Ta's goodwill, assuming I use it well, is as useful as the right to summon a True Immortal.'

Of course, even so, something that is precious is still precious.

Ahn Geum sheds bloody tears, and all the cultivators in the hall begin to look at Ahn Geum again with respectful eyes.

Jo Yeon, perhaps thinking that bringing down the Overseer Factory has become a realistic objective, starts asking for detailed information with a serious face.

"What is the type of the True Immortal's divine power? What degree of effects can it bring? If it is combined with the unique strengths of the Human Race, what kind of synergistic effect could we expect?"

"I will explain them one by one. First, I must receive permission from the upper ranks."

Ahn Geum puts aside her regret about the precious summoning right, and begins to establish a concrete plan to rescue Makli Hyun-ah.

"First, if there is a shrine of the Immeasurable Life Buddha Religious Order, guide me there. I need to contact the religious order's Heaven Immortals for a moment."

Ahn Geum bites down as she thinks about this situation, where she can only break through by using the True Immortal summoning right.

'Since I'm going to use a summoning right anyway, within one week... within seven days and nights, I will rescue him!'

Vast Cold Realm, main headquarters of the puppets, the Overseer Factory!

Inside that Overseer Factory, the Black Marquis and hundreds of Star Shattering stage puppets gather and look at a human who is submerged naked inside a single tank.

It is Makli Hyun-ah whom the Black Marquis captured and brought in.

"Strange, why does that human have no trace of sex?"

"There is a record that if one mistakenly consumes the black sea cucumber, a ghostly creature of the Purple Gold Realm, such side effects can appear."

"I see. Then is that human female, or male?"

"We still cannot know. Even if we try to read the genetic information, from the Four-Axis stage and Ascending Metamorphosis stage cultivators onward, due to Immortalization, the genetic information is altered, so it is difficult to read. Moreover, those Hundred Schools cultivators have far less known information than the already-known Immortal Family cultivators, so it is hard to understand."

"Is that so? Then, for now when we remodel it, it is right to set the form as a female-type puppet, yes?"

"For now, that is the best method."

A defining feature of the puppet legions and factories is that they try to apply, to all puppets, human culture and racial characteristics to some extent.

It has no meaning for puppets below the Star Shattering stage, but from the Star Shattering stage and above, they separate something that can be called a self to some degree in order to understand that meaning, and through it they tend to strive to find meaning.

This is a characteristic of the Mad Lord system puppets, handed down from the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress that the being called the Mad Lord created in the distant mythic age.

Since the final purpose of the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress was to make puppets perform a play that imitates humans, and use that play as a medium to pull in the spacetime of the past, all puppets are set up so that they cannot help but imitate humans.

However, after the Mad Lord's death, the final purpose of the Wonderfully Mysterious Fortress was not passed down to the puppets of the present age, and only the actions for the sake of that final purpose remain.

"Since it has a pretty outward form, it will become a puppet with a lot of popularity."

"Moreover, the aptitude that human possesses is extremely special. If we study that trait and apply it to other puppets, our legion's combat power will evolve qualitatively to an even higher level."

The Black Marquis looks at Makli Hyun-ah whom they captured and speaks proudly.

Another Star Shattering stage puppet hears the Black Marquis's words and shouts to the research puppets.

"Research puppets! How much longer must the research on the Human Race go on!?"

"Please wait. First, we confirmed the record that this human's talent is the legendary constitution called the 'Extreme Ghost Path Body'. Now, based on this record, we plan to explore the alternate space inside this human's body."

As soon as those words end, dozens of puppet arms descend into the tank containing Makli Hyun-ah and cling to Makli Hyun-ah's head.

"From now on, we will send spirit waves through to investigate the internal alternate space and install spiritual energy circuits inside the alternate space, to begin alternate space erosion. With the Overseer Factory's technical power, within approximately seven days-and-nights, we can have the circuits erode even the core parts of the alternate space and complete the investigation."

Chiiiiiiik!

Makli Hyun-ah, still unconscious, has the puppet circuits erode everywhere in his body and his soul, and even the alternate space within himself.

And as circuits are laid into Makli Hyun-ah, and as his circuits and the Overseer Factory's circuits connect more and more, The command code of [someone], which is hidden deep inside the Overseer Factory itself and inside all the puppets there, begins to reveal itself.

That command code begins to reveal itself faster and faster the more Makli Hyun-ah's circuits and the Overseer Factory's circuits connect, and in the span of the seven days-and-nights that the research puppet spoke of, that command code will completely reveal itself.

"... So, in the end, if you wish to achieve great completion in the Confucian Family Method, exploration of personality is going to be essential. Do you understand?"

When Ban Ta's teaching ends, Makli Hyun-ah feels his consciousness returning to his body in the Vast Cold Realm.

The body onto which Makli Hyun-ah's consciousness is projected slowly grows faint in Ban Ta Castle.

"Personality... how do I have to explore it, Master?"

"Haha, do not worry. When you return to your body, you will be able to sufficiently explore personality."

"Heok, that said, when I return to my body, wouldn't the puppets be in the middle of modifying me?"

"Hahaha, did I not say I will send you with your consciousness sealed so that you do not see such a sight?"

"No, then are the puppets really modifying my body? No, more than that, if you send me with my consciousness sealed, isn't that just the same as being locked in a prison?"

"Do not worry too much. Your inner self is... too wide to be called a prison. Use this chance to explore in detail, study personality, and then come back."

"Master, then isn't my body really being remodeled right n—"

"Now then. Let us see each other after this master resolves the ominous calamity, my beloved disciple!"

Paaaatt!

Before Makli Hyun-ah can even finish speaking, Ban Ta sends him back to his body.

"Huaaaagh! Master, please tell me! Am I being modified?"

However, no answer comes, and Makli Hyun-ah realizes that he has already entered a deep darkness.

'This place is...'

It is a familiar place.

An endless darkness.

The distant sound of faint chains that comes from far away...

'My inner world...'

It is the inside of Makli Hyun-ah, who has the special constitution called the Extreme Ghost Path Body.

'Master really is something... Yeah, rather than watching myself get modified with my own eyes, it is better to be trapped here... But even if you say the prison is wide... what am I supposed to do in a place like this with nothing but darkness?'

Makli Hyun-ah lets out a long sigh and looks around.

"After I ascended to the Purple Gold Realm, I haven't even seen Jegal Mikhail, and there is nothing to do. What am I even supposed to do...?"

Just then, Makli Hyun-ah looks into the darkness.

He realizes that something is shining brightly there.

"Uh?"

It is the first light Makli Hyun-ah has ever seen this abyss.

Curious what that light is, Makli Hyun-ah flies over there, and soon he can confirm what that light truly is.

'Th-That is...! What in the world...!?'

It is one enormous world.

It is not round but flat, like the concept of the world called the Decaying Corpse Realm that Makli Hyun-ah heard from Ban Ta, and on one side there is a dazzling blue-white light that has become the sun, and on the opposite side a bundle of chains reflects that light and has become a moon that emits a gentle glow, taking its place on the side opposite the sun while leading something like a cluster of stars.

Makli Hyun-ah swallows as he recalls that Ban Ta once said there is a world inside his body.

'Crazy... so that was really true?'

Faced with something absurd, Makli Hyun-ah flies over this world, trying to investigate what kind of world it is.

That's when it happens.

Makli Hyun-ah suddenly feels a force strongly pulling him from inside the world, gets sucked into the world, and soon loses consciousness.

After some time, the place where Makli Hyun-ah regains consciousness is inside a room he has never seen before.

However, because of a strange sense of déjà vu, Makli Hyun-ah does not notice what is strange for a while.

"... Heok! It looks too much like my room!"

Only after some time does Makli Hyun-ah realize that this messy room, reeking with a stale odor, is far too similar to his own room, and he tries to grasp the situation.

"Is this the world inside my inner world that I just got sucked into? And this... it doesn't feel like my body."

He doesn't even need to look in a mirror.

A big mass of flesh is attached to his chest, after all.

'Just what kind of situation is this... For now, it seems like I can activate the Confucian Family Method to some extent, but it clashes a bit with the unidentified spiritual power inside my body...'

To figure things out, Makli Hyun-ah goes out of the cluttered room.

After some time, Makli Hyun-ah comes to know that the building he is in is a temple.

'A temple? Then am I living in a temple? Is the original owner of this body a monk? Or just a believer? Or...'

It is when Makli Hyun-ah is trying to understand the situation.

From the side of Makli Hyun-ah, who has become a 'she', a young man approaches and taps her shoulder.

"Finally, you came outside, Tae Yeol-jeon!"

"P-Pardon?"

Makli Hyun-ah stares at the man who tapped him with a blank look.

'Is that my name? Tae Yeol-jeon?'

"Just now, some suspicious energy of unknown origin seemed to fall from the sky, so I ran over in case you got affected... but seeing those vacant eyes and that heart essence that is still lazy as ever, it looks like you were not affected at all! Hahaha! This time, have you come out after ten days? You stink a lot, so at least wash up this time!"

"Pardon? Wait a moment... eogk...!"

Without even listening to her answer, the man hoists her up onto his back and starts flying toward somewhere.

Makli Hyun-ah notices the memories of this body's owner, a woman named Tae Yeol-jeon, gradually waking up, and he starts absorbing information.

'The owner of this body is Tae Yeol-jeon... a child who got picked up and was raised in this Buddhist sect called Grand Nirvana Temple... and this man's name is... Hyeon Rang. He is the successor who will inherit this Grand Nirvana Temple...'